John Franklin III

[Strychnine 1,802]

I was just saying he was able to come in get his feet wet, get a bye week then get Kentucky and San Jose st. That was a great time to come in. The game against ole miss wasn't that good but like you said he was hurt in it. I'm sure the coaches wanted him to get the experience and be an improved qb ready for the last games of this season but the leg injury hurt

Fair enough. The MSU game was a tough situation to step into for any qb with the way our O had played, let alone for the first college snap ever. Funny story. Kentucky and AU are tied at 107th in the country with 17 sacks. Looks like every qb had an easy situation against us.

Indeed. Yet the defense played well enough to win all of them after LSU. If you told me in July that the defense would hold almost everyone after LSU under 30 and the team still lose 5 of those games, I would have thought you were insane.

Feel the same way. Unbelievable.

This level of defense would have likely produced an undefeated team last year.

[DAG 33,993]

I disagree, I think SW was placed in an awesome situation. Inserted in against the weak portion of the schedule was able to grow with team. Plan became messed up when he was hurt and didn't play against anybody with a pass rush. Now the coaches are in the same position of thinking they may have something but don't know how he'll perform against a good defense.

I never said anything about his competition. I agree that he didn't play the best competition, which is why I am not on the SW bandwagon and completely open to franklin competing for the #1 spot. However, I do think he was handcuffed sufficiently by the coaching staff leading up to his injury. They didn't have confidence in him at all and it truly affected the offense. Like I've posted before, the coaches should know the strength and weaknesses of their players. If you look at Baylor, they had injuries all year at the QB position, but they had a blueprint. Their starter comes out and a true freshman comes in and lights it up. Why? Because they know what they have, they already have an identity and they continue with it. They also had a plan C in case their freshman got hurt, which he did. They converted one of their receivers to QB and schemed to his strengths. They didn't just experiment to see what they had. They knew what they had before the game even started or at least what they could achieve.

So, I don't want to make this into a SW vs JJ war or whatever.

I think they were trying to modulate more responsibility on SW gradually. I thought they let him play the last couple of games. I did notice they handcuffed him in the redzone though

I can understand that and they did let him play the last couple of games. I agree with that as well. My point is as soon as Sean White stepped foot on the field against MSU, they should've had confidence that he could make every throw that would be called. They treated him like he never played a down of football in his life at QB haha. Not only that, it seemed like them themselves had no clue what he could or what he was capable of. It was weird quite honestly. I look at a lot of other teams and I just don't see that. You can play that way, if you have a stellar defense and awesome running game. Not when your team success is honestly predicated on explosive plays from the offensive end.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

I was just saying he was able to come in get his feet wet, get a bye week then get Kentucky and San Jose st. That was a great time to come in. The game against ole miss wasn't that good but like you said he was hurt in it. I'm sure the coaches wanted him to get the experience and be an improved qb ready for the last games of this season but the leg injury hurt

Fair enough. The MSU game was a tough situation to step into for any qb with the way our O had played, let alone for the first college snap ever. Funny story. Kentucky and AU are tied at 107th in the country with 17 sacks. Looks like every qb had an easy situation against us.

Indeed. Yet the defense played well enough to win all of them after LSU. If you told me in July that the defense would hold almost everyone after LSU under 30 and the team still lose 5 of those games, I would have thought you were insane.

Feel the same way. Unbelievable.

This level of defense would have likely produced an undefeated team last year.

And without a doubt an undefeated one the year before.

[AUbritt 611]

I was just saying he was able to come in get his feet wet, get a bye week then get Kentucky and San Jose st. That was a great time to come in. The game against ole miss wasn't that good but like you said he was hurt in it. I'm sure the coaches wanted him to get the experience and be an improved qb ready for the last games of this season but the leg injury hurt

Fair enough. The MSU game was a tough situation to step into for any qb with the way our O had played, let alone for the first college snap ever. Funny story. Kentucky and AU are tied at 107th in the country with 17 sacks. Looks like every qb had an easy situation against us.

Indeed. Yet the defense played well enough to win all of them after LSU. If you told me in July that the defense would hold almost everyone after LSU under 30 and the team still lose 5 of those games, I would have thought you were insane.

Feel the same way. Unbelievable.

This level of defense would have likely produced an undefeated team last year.

Yep. And definitely the year before.

[AUbritt 611]

I was just saying he was able to come in get his feet wet, get a bye week then get Kentucky and San Jose st. That was a great time to come in. The game against ole miss wasn't that good but like you said he was hurt in it. I'm sure the coaches wanted him to get the experience and be an improved qb ready for the last games of this season but the leg injury hurt

Fair enough. The MSU game was a tough situation to step into for any qb with the way our O had played, let alone for the first college snap ever. Funny story. Kentucky and AU are tied at 107th in the country with 17 sacks. Looks like every qb had an easy situation against us.

Indeed. Yet the defense played well enough to win all of them after LSU. If you told me in July that the defense would hold almost everyone after LSU under 30 and the team still lose 5 of those games, I would have thought you were insane.

Feel the same way. Unbelievable.

This level of defense would have likely produced an undefeated team last year.

And without a doubt an undefeated one the year before.

Agreed.

:laugh:

[PigskinPat 2,579]

I disagree, I think SW was placed in an awesome situation. Inserted in against the weak portion of the schedule was able to grow with team. Plan became messed up when he was hurt and didn't play against anybody with a pass rush. Now the coaches are in the same position of thinking they may have something but don't know how he'll perform against a good defense.

I never said anything about his competition. I agree that he didn't play the best competition, which is why I am not on the SW bandwagon and completely open to franklin competing for the #1 spot. However, I do think he was handcuffed sufficiently by the coaching staff leading up to his injury. They didn't have confidence in him at all and it truly affected the offense. Like I've posted before, the coaches should know the strength and weaknesses of their players. If you look at Baylor, they had injuries all year at the QB position, but they had a blueprint. Their starter comes out and a true freshman comes in and lights it up. Why? Because they know what they have, they already have an identity and they continue with it. They also had a plan C in case their freshman got hurt, which he did. They converted one of their receivers to QB and schemed to his strengths. They didn't just experiment to see what they had. They knew what they had before the game even started or at least what they could achieve.

So, I don't want to make this into a SW vs JJ war or whatever.

I think they were trying to modulate more responsibility on SW gradually. I thought they let him play the last couple of games. I did notice they handcuffed him in the redzone though

I can understand that and they did let him play the last couple of games. I agree with that as well. My point is as soon as Sean White stepped foot on the field against MSU, they should've had confidence that he could make every throw that would be called. They treated him like he never played a down of football in his life at QB haha. Not only that, it seemed like them themselves had no clue what he could or what he was capable of. It was weird quite honestly. I look at a lot of other teams and I just don't see that. You can play that way, if you have a stellar defense and awesome running game. Not when your team success is honestly predicated on explosive plays from the offensive end.

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

[AUbritt 611]

I disagree, I think SW was placed in an awesome situation. Inserted in against the weak portion of the schedule was able to grow with team. Plan became messed up when he was hurt and didn't play against anybody with a pass rush. Now the coaches are in the same position of thinking they may have something but don't know how he'll perform against a good defense.

I never said anything about his competition. I agree that he didn't play the best competition, which is why I am not on the SW bandwagon and completely open to franklin competing for the #1 spot. However, I do think he was handcuffed sufficiently by the coaching staff leading up to his injury. They didn't have confidence in him at all and it truly affected the offense. Like I've posted before, the coaches should know the strength and weaknesses of their players. If you look at Baylor, they had injuries all year at the QB position, but they had a blueprint. Their starter comes out and a true freshman comes in and lights it up. Why? Because they know what they have, they already have an identity and they continue with it. They also had a plan C in case their freshman got hurt, which he did. They converted one of their receivers to QB and schemed to his strengths. They didn't just experiment to see what they had. They knew what they had before the game even started or at least what they could achieve.

So, I don't want to make this into a SW vs JJ war or whatever.

I think they were trying to modulate more responsibility on SW gradually. I thought they let him play the last couple of games. I did notice they handcuffed him in the redzone though

I can understand that and they did let him play the last couple of games. I agree with that as well. My point is as soon as Sean White stepped foot on the field against MSU, they should've had confidence that he could make every throw that would be called. They treated him like he never played a down of football in his life at QB haha. Not only that, it seemed like them themselves had no clue what he could or what he was capable of. It was weird quite honestly. I look at a lot of other teams and I just don't see that. You can play that way, if you have a stellar defense and awesome running game. Not when your team success is honestly predicated on explosive plays from the offensive end.

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

Yep. Frustrating. Imagine if you were Sean White!

[tiger88 934]

In the msu game it was fairly wide open first drive, then the int. Looked like Gus got scared to throw after that until we had to throw late in the game.

I remember him hitting multiple receivers on the 1st drive and getting all excited.

[cole256 17,084]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

[DAG 33,993]

I disagree, I think SW was placed in an awesome situation. Inserted in against the weak portion of the schedule was able to grow with team. Plan became messed up when he was hurt and didn't play against anybody with a pass rush. Now the coaches are in the same position of thinking they may have something but don't know how he'll perform against a good defense.

I never said anything about his competition. I agree that he didn't play the best competition, which is why I am not on the SW bandwagon and completely open to franklin competing for the #1 spot. However, I do think he was handcuffed sufficiently by the coaching staff leading up to his injury. They didn't have confidence in him at all and it truly affected the offense. Like I've posted before, the coaches should know the strength and weaknesses of their players. If you look at Baylor, they had injuries all year at the QB position, but they had a blueprint. Their starter comes out and a true freshman comes in and lights it up. Why? Because they know what they have, they already have an identity and they continue with it. They also had a plan C in case their freshman got hurt, which he did. They converted one of their receivers to QB and schemed to his strengths. They didn't just experiment to see what they had. They knew what they had before the game even started or at least what they could achieve.

So, I don't want to make this into a SW vs JJ war or whatever.

I think they were trying to modulate more responsibility on SW gradually. I thought they let him play the last couple of games. I did notice they handcuffed him in the redzone though

I can understand that and they did let him play the last couple of games. I agree with that as well. My point is as soon as Sean White stepped foot on the field against MSU, they should've had confidence that he could make every throw that would be called. They treated him like he never played a down of football in his life at QB haha. Not only that, it seemed like them themselves had no clue what he could or what he was capable of. It was weird quite honestly. I look at a lot of other teams and I just don't see that. You can play that way, if you have a stellar defense and awesome running game. Not when your team success is honestly predicated on explosive plays from the offensive end.

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

Thank you !!! It drives me crazy. It reminds me of our championship year. We are playing Arkansas and big cannon RM goes out with an arm injury. The crowd is rocking, we got Cam doing what he does and the game is over now in my head. Petrino trots out some kid name Tyler Wilson. What does he do? he lets it rip and they spark something. Obviously, he got burnt because Tyler threw two easy picks to Josh, but he showed confidence. It paid dividends in the future. I am fine with protecting your QB, but at least act like you have some confidence in his ability. Once MSU saw that we had no confidence in our QB, they went to chill mode.

[tiger88 934]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

Yeah, but I was like, let's do this and if he chunks them up like jj was, then put jj back in. The end result was a loss due to inhibited play calling.

[DAG 33,993]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

[AUbritt 611]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

Yep -- kids can't be scared to make a mistake. They need to play with abandon, not with caution. If they throw a pick, that's a teaching moment.

[Strychnine 1,802]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

Exactly, and shutting it down is more damaging to his mindset than the INT was.

[DAG 33,993]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

I think you are on to something here.

[AUbritt 611]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

Agree that this is an accurate assessment of what happened. Also agree with those suggesting the coaches should've been able to adapt better when things with JJ didn't pan out.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

If that's true then it's horrible preparation on the coaches part. Time and time again this year we've seen starting QB's get benched or hurt and the backup(s) come in game ready.

[FoundationEagle 637]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

This is how Gus gets his O rolling every year. We start out slow and easy on playcalls and slowly add a little here and a little there to make it full playbook as the season goes. Where he messed up was thinking this philosophy was ok to do in the 4th game of the year. We were officially 3 games behind everyone else at that point because we started over like it was game 1. It took us a while to recover from this decision and by the time we were becoming mid season form, White got hurt and back to square one we went in the 9th game of the year. I'm hoping Gus learned his lesson on this one.

[AUbritt 611]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

This is how Gus gets his O rolling every year. We start out slow and easy on playcalls and slowly add a little here and a little there to make it full playbook as the season goes. Where he messed up was thinking this philosophy was ok to do in the 4th game of the year. We were officially 3 games behind everyone else at that point because we started over like it was game 1. It took us a while to recover from this decision and by the time we were becoming mid season form, White got hurt and back to square one we went in the 9th game of the year. I'm hoping Gus learned his lesson on this one.

Agreed.

[DAG 33,993]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

If that's true then it's horrible preparation on the coaches part. Time and time again this year we've seen starting QB's get benched or hurt and the backup(s) come in game ready.

Just my opinion, but I honestly think that is what happened. I am not so much down on what happen with JJ. It is questionable, but there have been meltdowns before. As a fan, I jumped the gun myself. The thing I am frustrated with is the fact that we are so reactive. We aren't proactive. There should be someone thinking of plan b, then another thinking of plan c, etc. Worst case scenarios should always be something to keep in mind. Personally, I think Gus will right the ship. We will have better qb play and things will go a lot smoother *knock on wood*. The thing is Gus is still a young HC. The fanbase, the player and the coaching staff got humbled and it is a hard learning lesson.

[DAG 33,993]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

This is how Gus gets his O rolling every year. We start out slow and easy on playcalls and slowly add a little here and a little there to make it full playbook as the season goes. Where he messed up was thinking this philosophy was ok to do in the 4th game of the year. We were officially 3 games behind everyone else at that point because we started over like it was game 1. It took us a while to recover from this decision and by the time we were becoming mid season form, White got hurt and back to square one we went in the 9th game of the year. I'm hoping Gus learned his lesson on this one.

This is the freaking truth. Going back to Cam's season, I didn't think we knew what we had until that USC game. Once I saw Cam dive in that end zone, I was like okay this is special. The same goes for 2013. I truly didn't feel all that confident in the offense until the texas A&M game. It is like we are experimenting with what works...we should have a freaking idea by now.

[Strychnine 1,802]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

If that's true then it's horrible preparation on the coaches part. Time and time again this year we've seen starting QB's get benched or hurt and the backup(s) come in game ready.

We say that, and it should be true. However, look at Florida's offense without their QB, or Georgia without Nick Chubb (or a QB), or LSU when Fournette is contained. Everyone expected JJ to be as advertised. Remember last year? It was frequently mentioned in game broadcasts that JJ could start anywhere else, and was the best backup QB in the country. Add Duke Williams to the mix as well. When the Heisman candidate struggles, and the #1 receiver is a non-factor (and gets kicked off the team early), you end up with what we had.

[AUbritt 611]

I think the pick in the endzone made everybody scared a little

It happens with a young QB. Kid was just pressing. It is what it is. I just don't agree with completely shutting it down. Then again, we usually always do good on opening drives.

This is how Gus gets his O rolling every year. We start out slow and easy on playcalls and slowly add a little here and a little there to make it full playbook as the season goes. Where he messed up was thinking this philosophy was ok to do in the 4th game of the year. We were officially 3 games behind everyone else at that point because we started over like it was game 1. It took us a while to recover from this decision and by the time we were becoming mid season form, White got hurt and back to square one we went in the 9th game of the year. I'm hoping Gus learned his lesson on this one.

This is the freaking truth. Going back to Cam's season, I didn't think we knew what we had until that USC game. Once I saw Cam dive in that end zone, I was like okay this is special. The same goes for 2013. I truly didn't feel all that confident in the offense until the texas A&M game. It is like we are experimenting with what works...we should have a freaking idea by now.

Just wish we had bowl practice, then Spring and Fall camps to figure things out ....

[FoundationEagle 637]

I agree with you about MSU. It makes you wonder what the heck they were doing with him in practice if they didn't have that confidence in him.

I think they entered the year expecting JJ to be the awesome machine he was predicted to be. When they had to bench him after game 3, I think that threw everything out of whack. I don't think they intended Sean White to play anything other than mop-up duty this year, and had confidence to match when they ended up having to rely on him at first.

If that's true then it's horrible preparation on the coaches part. Time and time again this year we've seen starting QB's get benched or hurt and the backup(s) come in game ready.

We say that, and it should be true. However, look at Florida's offense without their QB, or Georgia without Nick Chubb (or a QB), or LSU when Fournette is contained. Everyone expected JJ to be as advertised. Remember last year? It was frequently mentioned in game broadcasts that JJ could start anywhere else, and was the best backup QB in the country. Add Duke Williams to the mix as well. When the Heisman candidate struggles, and the #1 receiver is a non-factor (and gets kicked off the team early), you end up with what we had.

You can add overrated to that. The only "proven" playmakers we had returning were Duke and Roc. The rest of the hype was on potential. I don't remember ever seeing that much hype surrounding so many unproven players. Then when the only 2 proven playmakers are either kicked off the team or injured, and your expected Heisman qb folds up like a tent, and your hope to replace your NFL WR from last year turns out to drop half the passes, and you get an Olineman injured in the first game and have to switch everything around, then your backup qb comes in and things begin to improve, but he gets hurt, and your 3rd string qb get the news that he had to have surgery 2 weeks into the season so you either play your 4th string you feel sure won't win a game for you or you go back to your Heisman hopeful, and he still doesn't pull it together...you can see where 6 losses comes in to play.

How's that for a run-on sentence?